Slayers CYCLES
by YoungJae
Summary: PART 1: The Red World is under threat again. All the races unite their powers against the coming doom. PART 2: Lina and Gourry have traveled to the Black World; story of Kane Blueriver's ancestry. Chapter 16 up!
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER – **I do not own anything from **_**The **__**Slayers!, Slayers Next, Slayers Try, Slayers the Motion Picture, Slayers Return, Slayers Great, Slayers Gorgeous, Slayers Premium, Slayers the Book of Spells, Slayers EVOLUTION, Slayers EVOLUTION-R **_**or **_**Lost Universe.**_** Bakki/Hyeonsook, Dolomova, Gnomesta, Salamanda, Spritea, Sylfesta, Nacreous, and Night Terror are my original characters. The Wind Dragon King, the Earth Dragon King, Dynast Grauscherra, Deep Sea Dolphin, and Xellas Metallium are not my original characters in concept, but they are more or less original to my physical design and characteristics since they never made full appearances in the original storylines. **_**Maryland**_** and Maryland are mine. All spells introduced by Bakki/Hyeonsook in this story were my own compositions. Luo Glaon is not an original character, but his talisman is an original idea. Kymaziphied & Verhevenphied are names I came up with since the original story never introduced the names of the two ruling gods aside from Ceiphied and Vorphied. "Myacraligdo" & "Necruwigdo" were also my original ideas for the full names of Death Fog and Chaotic Blue. All chants for spells originally from the saga that are used in this fanfiction are the translated versions found in the subtitles on DVD for the entire saga. Finally, the concept of how **_**The Slayers!**_** Saga ends and how **_**Lost Universe **_**begins in this two part fanfiction is my original idea. Ask permission before you use an idea off this fiction for your own.**

AUTHOR'S NOTE – _I know that this chapter is really boring and rather pointless, so please bear with me. _Slayers!_ never had an exciting opening that made sense with the rest of the series/movie/OVA, so I kept to that idea. It'll get better in the coming chapters—I promise._

* * *

_**PART 1**_

_**Chapter 1: ARRIVAL! A new member shows up!**_

**~ ON A HILLSIDE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF SEYRUUN CITY ~**

"Ah, I'm so full," Lina Inverse said, rubbing her stomach.

Dinner had been a fiasco. Lina and Gourry had decided against better judgment to come visit Seyruun to see how their friends Amelia and Zelgadis were doing. Naturally, the two had gone overboard in their trek for dinner and ate without mercy. By the time they were done, it was closing time for the restaurant and the owner had to put up a sign that the place would be closed on the following day due to lack of groceries.

Right now, the two were lying down on a hillside to watch the stars.

"Aren't they just so beautiful, Lina?" Gourry asked.

Lina grinned. "Yeah, they really are. I wonder why I rarely notice them even though they are right there in front of us every night."

Gourry frowned. "I thought they were up above us in the sky."

"GAH!" Lina scratched her head in frustration. "I didn't mean that they were literally in front of us, jellyfish-for-brains!" she screamed.

"But you just said—"

"Forget what I just said, Gourry," Lina sighed, just rubbing her head. "Nothing ever makes sense for you."

"Hmm, okay!" Gourry chipped. "I guess that is true, eh? Hahaha!"

"Gourry, why do you always have to—?"

Before Lina could finish what it was that Gourry did, a blinding flash of light burst in the southern skies.

"Eh? What was that?" Lina shouted.

As the two of them watched, the light shrank but did not lose its brilliance. It shot out at incredible speed towards them.

"WAH!" Lina and Gourry screamed before a flash of ivory came their way. Lina had a momentary glimpse of a hooded figure grabbing her and Gourry before the light reached them. In the next moment, the upper part of the hill that she and Gourry had been on vaporized as the light passed overhead. The heat wave hit Lina, sending her spiraling through the air. A second later, an explosion filled her ears as the passing mass struck the ground almost a mile away.

Lina collected herself up. She could see the woods on fire in the distance.

"What was that?" Gourry cried out.

"I'm not sure," a man responded from behind the two of them, "but it may be an attack."

"Zelgadis!" Lina shouted.

"Well, whatever it is, we better go check it out!" Gourry declared.

Zelgadis nodded. "Let's go!"

* * *

**~ A MILE AWAY, INSIDE A CRASHED VESSEL ~**

(_Underlined Font indicates that the characters are speaking English. All other dialogue is supposed to be in Japanese._)

"Fire under control, captain."

"Roger that. What is the condition of life support and navigation?"

"Life support is sustaining, but navigation is offline, captain. The main generators have shut down; batteries are at 35% capacity."

"What are the conditions of the engines?"

"Operational capabilities yet unknown."

"Weapons?"

A pause followed this question. "Magazines are stable. All guns, torpedo bays, missile bays, and mine banks were emptied into the magazines prior to the crash."

The pilot let out a heavy sigh. "That's some good news, I guess," he whispered. "What are the sensor readings for the atmosphere of this world?"

There was another pause. "Life signs visible throughout the planet, captain. Atmosphere is 27% oxygen and 64% nitrogen. Conditions are very favorable for you outside. I also detect H2O in both the atmosphere and various bodies."

"What is the condition of the outer hatches?"

"Main, starboard, port, and ventral hatches were all damaged by the impact, captain. Bow dorsal hatches, starboard hatches, and all ventral hatches are buried under earth or rubble."

"Blow out the main hatches," the pilot ordered. He could distinctly hear the sound of minor explosives going off towards the aft end of the ship. The pressure in the ship changed moments later to match that of the planet's atmosphere. "Maryland, I'm going to go see if I can find something to help you out. Can you begin repairs?"

A hologram of a very androgynous figure appeared before the pilot. "Aye, aye, sir!" it said cheerfully.

The pilot made his way to the aft end of the ship. An elevator quickly took him down a level. He stepped forward onto a floating platform. It drifted past several broken sets of machinery before coming to a halt in front of a pair of doors. With a hiss, the doors opened in a semi-spiral fashion. A spot of moonlight drifted through the doors, lighting the way enough for the pilot to step forward to. Just before he made foothold with the soil outside, the pilot's clothes completely changed in a burst of blue light.

* * *

**~ OUTSIDE ~**

"Keep your head down!" Lina hissed.

Gourry had stuck his head out too far. Both Lina and Zelgadis grabbed Gourry by the hair and yanked him down. They had just noticed what appeared to be the doors of the strange structure blow out towards them. From inside spewed out what had to be fog, near as Lina could tell. Hardly a moment later, she saw a slender figure emerge out into the open. She squinted her eyes when his clothes emitted out a bright light. When the light died, she caught a second glimpse of the person.

From where Lina was hiding, it was hard to tell whether it was a man or a woman. The person had very long, straight hair reaching well past their waistline. The bangs were long enough to cover one eye completely and the other partially. Just a moment before, the person had been wearing black and blue tights made of a material that she did not recognize. Now, though, he or she was wearing long white and blue robes that were smoothly billowing in the wind. There was a sword strapped on their right side and a second sword on their back pointing to the right. In the left hand was a wooden staff with an assortment of jewels spiraling the upper half and adorning the very top. There were more jewels on his wrists and bare ankles. Lastly, there were several silver chains around his neck.

"Who do you think that is?" Gourry asked.

"You don't think he's a Mazuko, do you?" Zelgadis whispered just as the figure turned its head in their direction.

Before Lina could respond, the figure disappeared from sight and reappeared directly before them. Lina screamed and jumped backwards in surprise.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the he/she said in a rather effeminate voice, "I didn't mean to scare you!"

Zelgadis grit his teeth. "If you can phase shift, you must be a Mazuko!" He drew his sword.

The stranger, who did appear to have a somewhat masculine jaw-line now that they all caught a closer glance, cocked their head slightly. "What in blazes is a Mazuko?"

"How do you not know what a Mazuko is?" Gourry growled, drawing his sword as well.

The moonlight was just bright enough to form a glint in the stranger's hidden eyes.

"I'll answer that question for you, buddy, if you answer a question for me," Lina declared.

The stranger leaned his staff between his arms. "Okay, shoot."

Lina did not recognize the terminology. "Are you a man or a woman?"

The figure's silhouette wobbled at the question. "I suppose I should blame the lack of light," it sighed. "I'm a man."

Lina felt Zelgadis shift uneasily next to her. She smirked, thinking about Miwan in Femile, figuring that Zelgadis was probably blushing right now in embarrassment.

"For your information, a Mazuko is a demon that feeds on negative thoughts and energies," Lina shouted towards the now-declared guy.

"A demon?" he choked, sounding outraged. "I am no demon! I'm a demigod!"

Lina thought that statement through. "I suppose that could explain why you phase-shifted. Are you a dragon?"

The strange man calmed down. "No, not in this form. I can change into one, but this body of mine is human-born."

Lina frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

He shrugged. "I didn't expect it to. I am not of this world and I have no idea where I am."

"Not of this world?" Zelgadis asked, regaining himself. "Are you from the world of Darkstar?"

"Now that's a funny name," the out-world man. "I have no idea who that is. No, I'm from a world called Earth."

"Where is that at?" Gourry asked.

"In respect to this world, I have no idea how to reach it," the man replied. "I got veered off course on my ship while I was asleep so I am completely lost."

"Ship?" Lina wondered aloud. "That's a ship?"

The man turned to look at his vessel before answering, "Yes."

"But where are its sails?" Lina demanded. "It's anchors? The rigging!"

"Ah… You all must be behind in technology."

Lina glared. "So what if we are technologically slow? Even the outer kingdoms here have machines that we don't know anything about. Our magic, though, can still kick your ass!"

"Magic?" the man chirped happily. "Oh, yes! That'll help me lot out here." With that, he waved his staff towards his ship. The entire structure began to move off the ground and float gently in midair. The ground beneath shifted to form jacks and other small platforms to support the structure of the ship. It landed a moment later.

"Thank the heavens that magic works well in this world," the stranger said.

"That was pretty neat, actually," Lina stated. "I didn't feel any type of energy coming out from you. What type of magic was that?"

"That, my dear lady, would be the magic of simply land sculpting controlled by the Laws of Attraction," he answered. "And forgive me for being late in introductions, but my name is Hyeonsook."

"W-w-what?" Lina slurred out. "Pronounce it again."

"Hyu-n sook," he tried.

"Hun suk?"

"Hyeonsook."

"Hun soup?"

"Hyeonsook!"

"Do you have a nickname?"

"Hya-Hya."

"PFFFFFT!" Lina choked. "What the hell type of a nickname is that?"

Hyeonsook blushed. "My husband gave it to me almost 6,000 years ago."

Lina's choking turned into coughing. "Husband? I thought you were a guy!"

Hyeonsook looked straight into her eyes. "Same-sex marriage is allowed where I come from, especially way back when we first met one another."

"Eh, I see… We don't have that around here," Lina drawled out, scratching her hair. "In fact, gay guys and cross-dressers and stuff like that are very uncommon in our world. They're not looked upon too brightly."

"I see…" Hyeonsook sighed. "Our world was like that for a while, but no longer. Your statement now just makes me want to go home faster."

"Hehe, don't get me wrong, we have no problem with you being that way," Lina said, holding her hands out defensively. "You just might get a few weird looks from people if you start talking about having a male lover, let alone an actual husband."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"So…is there maybe another nickname that we can call you by?" Gourry asked, his expressions the same as always.

"Well…all my nicknames are from my husband through the ages that we spent together," Hyeonsook answered. "I suppose, though, if I were to choose one that would be easy for you all to pronounce, that would be 'Bakki'."

"Bakki?" Lina tried.

"Yeah, you got it right," Hyeonsook answered. "And you are?"

"Lina. Lina Inverse. This is Gourry, my bodyguard, and our friend Zelgadis."

"Nice to meet you all."

"Can we check out your ship?" Lina asked.

"It's damaged inside, I don't know how safe it is right now."

"Eh, danger doesn't bother me any," Lina returned proudly. "I can handle anything."

Hyeonsook smiled sweetly. "If that's the case, come on in!"

* * *

**~ BACK INSIDE THE SHIP ~**

"Captain!"

Lina watched as a second very-androgynous figure nearly tackled down Bakki. They had traveled on a floating thingy that took them to another floating thingy that lifted them up a level. Now they were in some strange room with several seats and broken glass.

"Is this your husband?"

"Huh?" Bakki exclaimed. "No! No, no! This is a hologram."

"A hologram?" Gourry questioned.

Lina waved her hand fiercely in front of Gourry's face. "Uh, hahaha, ignore this one, would you? You could explain something to him a thousand times and he'll never get it, the stupid jellyfish-for-brains that he is!" She laughed nervously. "I, however, am interested to know what a halagram is."

"A hologram," Bakki corrected, "is simply a light projection in the form of something specific like a human being. Normally, you can't touch them and they can't touch you, but we've developed a type that can have somewhat of a body mass using ions and ionic bonding of matter. This particular hologram is the projection of this ship's computer. Think of a computer as its manmade brain."

"A ship with a manmade brain," Lina stated. "Sounds interesting."

"Captain," the hologram shouted to catch Bakki's attention.

"This one's name is 'Maryland', just so you know, which is also the ship's name," Bakki added.

"I've run the ship's logs and all feeds through to get an idea on where we are," Maryland chortled.

"Good!" Bakki said excitedly. "Very good! So where are we?"

"Uh…" Maryland hesitated. "You should check it out for yourself."

It activated one of the few monitors that were still intact. On the screen was what Lina recognized to be chaos itself.

"Lord of Nightmares!" Lina shouted.

Maryland looked confused. "That's the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy," it stated. "What is the Lord of Nightmares?"

"The Lord of Nightmares," Lina began, "is the great mother of this world and its connected worlds." She turned her gaze onto Maryland. "What's a black hole?"

"A black hole is usually formed when a star completely collapses onto itself when it dies, causing a void that sucks in everything, including light. No one yet knows where a supermassive black hole comes from, but we do know that they form the centers of most galaxies."

"What is a galaxy?" Zelgadis asked.

"A galaxy is a collection of stars and other heavenly bodies orbiting a center mass," Bakki replied. The monitor projected an image of the Milky Way galaxy. "This is the galaxy that I am from. All those bright dots are stars. I am from somewhere over here," he said, pointing at one of the arms of the Milky Way." That is literally billions upon billions upon billions of miles away."

"And you traveled all that distance to get here?" Lina gasped.

"I was going on a solo trip of my own to explore a bit," Bakki responded. "My husband and I recently quelled off some conflicts happening on our world and we decided to take a little break. This ship can travel distances of that nature in just a few weeks, so I thought I'd give myself about a year break to see what all was out there while he stayed at home since he wasn't interested in going on such a trip."

"Along the way, while the captain was asleep, we ran into problems," Maryland continued. The monitor showed what appeared to a cloud of rocks coming their way. "We ran into this asteroid field as we approached the center of the galaxy. I tried to avoid them all, but one of them ended up hitting us to our starboard side—our right side," Maryland added when it saw the confused looks on Gourry's face. "The ship's navigation system was damaged and I couldn't repair it in time before we were sucked in by the supermassive black hole."

The monitor showed the ship being sucked into the void. "Luckily, a supermassive black hole, despite its size, is not nearly as powerful as a regular black hole," Maryland trailed on. "A regular black hole would have completely crushed us, but this one didn't. Next thing I knew…" The monitor showed another image that Lina recognized.

"That's the staff of our worlds," Lina gasped. Now Bakki and Maryland looked confused. "Our world was built by the Lord of Nightmares, the mother of all of our Gods and Mazuko. She built four worlds on top of one another on a staff keeping them in place. This is the Red World, the place of the god Ceiphied and the Mazuko Lord Ruby-Eyed Shabranigdo, a Mazuko being a type of monster. The other worlds are the Black World of Darkstar Dugradigdo and Vorphied, the White World of Death Fog Myacraligdo and Kymaziphied*, and the Blue world of Chaotic Blue Necruwigdo and Verhevenphied**. Ours is the one on the very top."

"Interesting…" Bakki purred. "Four miniature universes held together by a pole sharing…what looks like an astral plane filling the spaces between them."

"Yes, that is the astral plane," Zelgadis confirmed. "Several of our spells use power that comes from the astral plane. There are also many beings that travel that plane and have their bodies directly linked to it."

"Like many of the Mazuko," Lina added.

Bakki rubbed his chin slightly. "That's really not much different from our world, except that our world has been drained of a lot of magic and other powers over the ages. Me, my husband, and many of our friends are trying to restore the world to its original state."

The monitor, from the ship's point of view, showed how Bakki had entered the Red World through a void-like opening into it. Sparks flew across the screen as the ship entered Lina's world and triggered an explosion upon hitting the atmosphere. The explosion's size was unknown, but it appeared to be big enough to chuck the ship sideways a long distance. The ship had all of three seconds to right itself up before it crash-landed into the outskirts of Seyruun City, the White Magic Capitol of the world.

"So you're here all alone?" Lina asked.

"Yes, just me and Maryland here," Bakki replied. The hologram smiled and waved.

"I'm guessing that you'll need to do major repairs in order to leave," Lina stated. Bakki nodded. "Then we'll help you, but for a price."

Bakki had figured help wouldn't come for free. "I suppose I have no choice, considering that I'll have to rely on you locals for help."

"But how are we going to help when we have no idea how to fix any of this stuff?" Gourry interjected.

"Hmm," Bakki thought. "Is there a material in this world that absorbs energy?"

Lina shrugged. "Orihalcon is a magic-absorbing metal that we use. That might help."

"That should do," Bakki said. "If I can create a power-generator using orihalcon, then you all can help me plenty—first by helping me get a hold of this metal."

"Captain, we will also need new parts to replace to places weakened by the impacts," Maryland added.

"What type of metals does your world have that are strong and good for withstanding strong impacts?" Bakki asked.

Lina and Zelgadis both pulled out their swords. "My sword is made from one of the strongest alloys in this world," Zelgadis stated.

"Mine is also one of the strongest, but it's probably a lot lighter than his," Lina followed-up.

Maryland took both swords in its hands and started to analyze them. "The larger sword is a metal similar to steel and the smaller sword is comparable to a titanium alloy of our own."

Bakki nodded. "It may not be Kilsby-Roberts steel, but if it's strong enough that we can try to get more of such material and repair the ship. How is the interior repairs progressing, Maryland?"

"All decks were damaged, captain," Maryland answered. "Both bridges and engineering are on priority. The repair-bots are salvaging all broken parts to be remolded as their intended uses, but it will take at least a week for the ship to be operational with an impulse drive."

"What about the anti-gravity drive?" Bakki asked.

"The cores were damaged and will take at least 10 days to fully repair."

"Then continue as you are progressing, but make sure to conserve energy where you can," Bakki ordered. "Shut off all operational compartment doors in case it starts raining since we are most likely to spring several leaks right now. Which of the two metals do you think we'll need first?"

"For now, we will need orihalcon first to make a temporary power-generator," Maryland responded. "After that, we'll need the steel for the frames that lost structural integrity first and foremost. The titanium alloy can come last for the hulls."

"With the impulse drive online, would it be safe to move this ship to another location for a full-out repair?"

"Yes captain, the ship has enough structural integrity to survive a low-velocity flight at a low altitude," Maryland responded.

"Then focus on the repairs as you have been doing," Bakki commanded. "Carry on."

"Aye, aye!"

"Lina, is there someone I can talk to in order to get some sponsorship for my repairs?" Bakki asked.

"Uh, yeah, there is someone around here," Lina answered, losing her stance when she thought of the one person who would have enough money to do such a thing.

* * *

**~ NORTHSIDE OF SEYRUUN CITY ~**

"_**DIGGER BOLT!**_" Several blasts of lightning shot out of Lina's hands and landed on her target.

"_**BRAM BLAZER!**_" Zelgadis yelled, sending out waves of blue towards the same target.

"Nice work, guys!" Gourry shouted. He was next to a kiln with several others, melting down various ores to hammer down into frames.

The work had been going on for eight days now. The ship had indeed regained its flight capabilities and thus relocated itself to the northern side of Seyruun City, which was the part of town that had all the blacksmiths and other trade workers necessary for the job at hand. Philionel had been more than eager to help a "helpless soul of justice" with the task of going back to his loved ones. Since Bakki was a demigod, that automatically made him a champion of justice fighting for good against evil in the eyes of the Seyruun royalty. Philionel charged no fees to Bakki for the sponsorship, but Bakki had insisted that he help around the kingdom while he was available.

As a result, Bakki was going around the temples and shrines of Seyruun to bless holy objects and raise barriers throughout the city against all Mazuko and other evil forces. Sensing the sudden power in Seyruun, many Mazuko had already attacked the city to see if they could penetrate the new defenses, but none had been successful thus far. Even attacks through the astral plane failed to permeate the shields. Bakki's barriers were simply too powerful for any of the attackers to even harm.

Philionel praised Bakki even more highly after witnessing how strongly the barriers held. A grand feast had been held in the demigod's honor, during which time Lina and Gourry helped themselves to nearly everything available on the royal table. Bakki had been hesitant to receive such praise, but blushed happily as he gave a toast to the well-being of the world he was visiting. Philionel gave a toast in return as gratitude for Bakki's services.

"_**RAZA KLOUVA!**_" Balls of light shot towards the orihalcon generator. The next moment, the generator kicked on with a slow whirling sound.

"Victory!" Amelia shouted, holding up her victory sign. She had been the one to cast the last spell.

"Nice one, Amelia!" Bakki shouted happily. They had met on the night of Bakki's arrival shortly before the man had been introduced to Philionel. Like her father, she too had declared Bakki a hero of justice and a champion for good. Bakki hadn't thought much on those thoughts at the time, but after meeting Phil he seemed very uncomfortable with the Seyruun family. It took him days to adjust to their stupidity.

"Now that it's working, each of you cast off one more spell onto it so that it works at full capacity," Bakki ordered.

"_**FLARE LANCE!**_"

"_**BRAM GUSH!**_"

"_**BLAST ASH!**_"

The spells struck the generator with no visible effects, but the generator started to noticeably vibrate due to the rotating machinery inside.

"Yes!" Bakki cheered. "Now we can really begin the big repairs. Maryland!"

"Yes, captain?" Maryland said as she appeared next to Bakki.

"Once we complete the repairs on the ship's hulls and frame, how much longer will it be before we can ready for our trip home?" Bakki asked.

Maryland made visible calculations out of numbers floating around her head. "Even with the power of this temporary generator, captain, it would take at least three years to build enough power to stabilize and reactivate the core of our fusion reactor, captain."

"That long?" Bakki shouted, looking completely bummed.

"I'm afraid so, captain."

Bakki scratched his head lightly. "Lina, Zelgadis, Amelia! Could you guys fire your most powerful spells at the generator to see if that might increase the power?"

"We'll give it a try!" Lina shouted. "Zel, Amelia! You guys go first."

Zelgadis and Amelia nodded before chanting in unison: "_Source of all souls that dwell in eternal and infinite. Everlasting flame of blue, let the power hidden in my soul be called forth from the Infinite!__** RA-TILT!**_" Twin jets of blue light shot straight for the generator and made contact. The generator shook tremendously, but managed just barely to stay in place with its form intact.

Lina followed behind them a moment later. She gathered together her four magic-amplifying talismans. _"Lord of the Darkness of the Four Worlds, on ty bonds I do swear! Grant me all the power that you possess!"_ The talismans glowed a bright red as they fed energy into Lina. _"Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows—buried in the flow of time! In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness! Let all the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess! __**DRAGON SLAVE!**__"_

A cacophony of sound came from the impact of the spell onto the generator. Bakki phased next to it to give it more physical stability as it absorbed the spell. Within seconds, the spell was gone. The generator glowed a golden color.

"Recalculating, captain!" Maryland shouted. "It'll now take less than eight months to charge up fully!"

"That's better," Bakki said, smiling toothily. "I could use that time to explore around for a while and get to know this place. Hey Maryland, if we shoot a few more spells into the generator, do you think we might be able to fly around this continent while still charging the reactor?"

"That would depend on the power of the spells, captain," Maryland responded.

"Lina?" Bakki chipped.

Lina was panting. "Give me a minute," she said, holding up a finger. "That last one drained me up quite a bit."

"You probably should do something weaker than a Dragon Slave," Zelgadis suggested.

"Yeah, but I'm not about to do something pathetically weak," Lina shot back. She gathered her hands to her chest. _"Lord of the Darkness of the Four Worlds, on thy bonds I do swear! Grant me all the power that you possess!" _She moved her hands out in front of her. _"Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright! Gather together in my hand and become an inferno! __**BURST FLARE**__**!**"_ A ball of light appeared at the generator and burst into a blue and white flame. The generator again shook as it absorbed the spell.

"How about one more for good measure?" The voice that spoke was Christopher ul Brozzo Seyruun.

"Uncle!" Amelia shouted.

Christopher turned to look at Amelia. "How about it, Amelia? You all have charged it full of black magic, so how about some white magic to balance it out?"

"But we don't have any white magic spells that are as powerful as those black magic spells," Amelia retorted. "We only have healing spells and protection spells."

"That's why you would use this," Christopher said, pulling out a talisman.

"That's!" Amelia screamed.

"Eh?" Lina grunted. "Is that something special?"

"It's the talisman of Luo Glaon!" Amelia replied.

"Luo Glaon?" Lina gasped.

"Is that someone special?" Gourry asked, getting a smack on the head as a result.

"Luo Glaon is one of the five great sages of our age!" Lina scolded. "He devoted his entire life to white magic, probably far more than Rezo did!" She turned to Christopher. "I did not know that the Seyruun family had his talisman."

Christopher nodded. "He gave it to our ancestors to protect and use for the sake of good. We regard it as one of our greatest treasures and have only used it for blessings and protection. It can be used in other ways, however." He handed the talisman to Amelia. "With it, you can cast the most powerful spell in all of white magic. Normally, you would have to be a Knight of Ceiphied in order to perform the spell, but any white mage can use the talisman to cast—"

"Ceiphied Flare!" Lina finished. Christopher nodded.

"Ceiphied Flare?" Zelgadis repeated. "I've never even seen it before!"

"My sister is a Knight of Ceiphied," Lina said. "She told me about its destructive powers, but that it only affected someone that used black magic or a Mazuko. It is unknown how it would react to someone that casts shaman spells."

"Meaning that you and I need to be out of the way," Zelgadis finished.

Amelia looked up nervously at her uncle. "But uncle, I don't know if I can cast it. I've never done it before."

Christopher smiled. "Amelia, you were trained by the greatest mages in Seyruun. You have learned to use it should you ever need to protect the city from a high-ranking Mazuko. You could cast the spell right now for practice."

Amelia glanced at the generator with shaky eyes. "I'll try…" She firmed her hands and took several steps toward the machinery.

"Gourry, you might want to back away as well," Lina said.

"Eh, why?" Gourry questioned.

"You're not a mage, but using the Sword of Light might have left some dark energy on you," Lina answered. "If that spell really does target black magic, you might be affected by it, too. It's best that you keep your distance."

"I don't understand, but I'll back up if you say so."

Amelia closed her eyes to concentrate on her energy. The talisman began to glow a soft white as a breeze picked up around her. She opened her eyes. _"Divine breath of the Holy Dragon, Holy Father of the light, grant unto your loyal knight the power of the blessed Dragon King! __**CEIPHIED FLARE!**_" A white-hot light shot from her open palms onto the generator. White flames sprang to life around the light in a helical shape and struck the generator with incredible force. The machinery seemed to nearly melt from the heat and was pushed back several feet before Bakki blocked its foreseen path. It cleared up after a few seconds.

Amelia shook from the force of the spell and her hands gave up some light smoke. Everyone stood there with their mouths ajar.

"That was amazing!" Lina shouted.

"Its power was right up there with the Dragon Slave," Zelgadis commented. "In fact, it may have been more powerful."

"It is," Christopher said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Being that Shabranigdo's power is divided into seven pieces while Ceiphied is divided into only four pieces, the Ceiphied Flare gathers up more energy than the Dragon Slave. Very few people know how to cast it, however, so its legends are very dim compared to the Dragon Slave."

"More powerful than the Dragon Slave," Lina whispered. "So my sister really is stronger than me."

"But you have your talismans," Bakki said. "I'm sure it boosts up your spells powers whenever you'd like and can make your attacks more powerful than hers, not that you might ever have to do that."

"That's right!" Lina said. "Plus, I can cast the Ragna Blade (and the Giga Slave)! She could never beat—" Right there, Lina lost her composure. Thoughts of fighting her sister filled her head and she faulted down to the ground shaking madly.

"Ms. Lina!" Amelia shouted. "It's okay, your sister is not here," she said soothingly to Lina.

"In any case, the ship is almost fully charged," Bakki giggled. "We could ride around in this thing for a while and I could explore this place a bit."

"After the main repairs are finished, captain," Maryland reminded. She was twitching at the word 'thing.'

Bakki dropped his head. "Yes, after they are finished."

"How long will that be?" Lina asked.

Maryland made a 'beep' sound from her head. "At this rate, it'll be three more days before the frame is repaired. The hull may take up to seven days depending on the pace after we finish the frame."

"Roger that," Bakki said. "Carry on, Maryland."

"Aye!" the hologram sang as it disappeared.

"I suppose that you can just enjoy yourself in the meantime," Lina chuckled, slapping Bakki on the back.

"I suppose…" Bakki said, rubbing his back. "In the meantime, can we go somewhere to eat? I'm dying here."

"No problem!" Lina grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her. Zelgadis and Amelia followed behind.

"Ah, hey!" Gourry yelled hoarsely, dropping the red-hot metal he was working on and letting it catch the grass beneath on fire.

"FIRE!" one of the workers screamed.

"Wait for me!"

* * *

* Kymaziphied: based off "kymazito" – Greek for "wave."

** Verhevenphied: based off "verhevenheid" – Dutch for "serenity."


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER – **I do not own anything from **_**The **__**Slayers!, Slayers Next, Slayers Try, Slayers the Motion Picture, Slayers Return, Slayers Great, Slayers Gorgeous, Slayers Premium, Slayers the Book of Spells, Slayers EVOLUTION, Slayers EVOLUTION-R **_**or **_**Lost Universe.**_** Bakki/Hyeonsook, Dolomova, Gnomesta, Salamanda, Spritea, Sylfesta, Nacreous, and Night Terror are my original characters. The Wind Dragon King, the Earth Dragon King, Dynast Grauscherra, Deep Sea Dolphin, and Zellas Metallium are not my original characters in concept, but they are more or less original to my physical design and characteristics since they never made full appearances in the original storylines. **_**Maryland**_** and Maryland are mine. All spells introduced by Bakki/Hyeonsook in this story were my own compositions. Luo Glaon is not an original character, but his talisman is an original idea. Kymaziphied & Verhevenphied are names I came up with since the original story never introduced the names of the two ruling gods aside from Ceiphied and Vorphied. "Myacraligdo" & "Necruwigdo" were also my original ideas for the full names of Death Fog and Chaotic Blue. All chants for spells originally from the saga that are used in this fanfiction are the translated versions found in the subtitles on DVD for the entire saga. Finally, the concept of how **_**The Slayers!**_** Saga ends and how **_**Lost Universe **_**begins in this two part fanfiction is my original idea. Ask permission before you use an idea off this fiction for your own.**

* * *

_**Chapter 2: FLASH! It's a Golden Dragon!**_

**~ THE BRIDGE OF **_**MARYLAND**_

"Now pull back on the thruster a little," Bakki said.

Lina was slowly starting to get the hang of driving Maryland. It had taken her a few days, and a lot of help, to get the hang of basic driving, but the effort was beginning to show. Strangely enough, the person who had shown more skill at driving the ship was Gourry. Despite his slacked knowledge, his skills at focusing targets, estimating distances, and concentrating on motion were superior to Lina's. Similarly, Zelgadis had shown great concentration at driving as well. Amelia was trailing behind them all.

"Come on Lina," Gourry pushed. "You have to pull back more gently." Lina had pulled on the throttle a little too hard, making the ship jump quite a few kingdoms.

"Gah, I'm trying my best here!" Lina retaliated. "I've never done something like this before!"

"Well then, is there something you are familiar with that you have to have delicate hands for?" Bakki asked.

"Eh?" Lina choked.

"Seriously, anything at all?" Bakki asked again.

Lina hung her head slightly and mumbled. "…grapes…"

"What was that?"

"…picking…grapes…"

"What are you saying, Lina?" Gourry shouted, leaning closer to her.

"I SAID 'PICKING GRAPES'!" Lina thundered, making Gourry fall back grabbing his ear.

"Picking grapes?" Zelgadis repeated, not entirely sure that he had heard it correctly.

"Yes, picking grapes," Lina confirmed. "I'm from Zefielia. We have a huge grape harvest every year. All the grapes have to be picked gently before we make wine out of them."

"I didn't know that you came from Zefielia," Zelgadis said.

"Yeah, I've lived there until I was 15 years old, but I have a warrant out for my arrest so I left," Lina sighed.

"A warrant?" Zelgadis, Gourry, and Amelia chanted.

"Ms. Lina, I thought you were a good person!" Amelia cried.

"I AM A GOOD PERSON!" Lina defended.

Gourry and Zelgadis made a face at her that she did not see.

"But, but, but why do you have a warrant out for your arrest?" Amelia questioned.

"That's because I took on a job for someone that was completely crazy!" Lina replied. "She was absolutely crazy and made me take part in her problems and that resulted in a major town center being destroyed! Many people lost their jobs and homes because of it!"

"Is that really all there is to it?" Gourry wondered.

_**WHAM!**_

Lina's fist was nearly buried in Gourry's skull. "THAT'S ALL THERE WAS TO IT!"

Amelia was still shedding tears over yet another revelation of Lina's destructive past while Gourry massaged his head.

"So…anyway," Bakki coughed, trying to change the subject. "Take into consideration how carefully you have to grab at the grapes, and then focus on how gently you have to pull at the fruit so that you do not rip their skin when plucking them off. Concentrate on that."

Lina closed her eyes and thought back to her early teenage days. It had been a few years since she was involved in any of the fall harvests for the juicy grapes from her homeland, but the memories were still fresh. She focused her mind on the harvest and gently moved the throttle.

"There, see?" Bakki said happily. The ship was flying smoothly across the sea. "That's how you fly it normally."

"Eh?" Everyone but Zelgadis chanted.

"There's another way to fly it?" Amelia asked.

"Well, sure," Bakki responded. "Say, for instance, you have to do evasive maneuvers from flying objects about to collide or from attacks. Gently working the throttle would just make you a slow target—easy to hit. You would have to really work it hard so that the ship would avoid getting hit."

"So what would you do differently?" Gourry asked.

Bakki smiled. "Keep disciplined. Imagine, for example, holding a sword in each hand. Maintain the same discipline as you would for swords and swing quickly, but with calculation."

"Why two swords, though?" Zelgadis asked.

For a response, Bakki pointed at the left armrest of the pilot's seat. There was a second joystick there with a few buttons on them. "The pilot can use either just one joystick to control all the engines, or use both together. When both are used, the engines work in two groups—port and starboard. It makes steering faster and the ship responds to the controls faster as well. Normally, there would be other crew members working navigation and weaponry—if needed—but the pilot can also control all of those single-handedly. The left joystick has these buttons to fire weapons at an aimed target."

"Sounds fun," Lina commented.

"It can get that way," Bakki shrugged. "Anyone else want to drive around for a while longer?"

"Nah, I think I've had enough for a day," Gourry said.

"I want to fly a little while longer," Lina answered.

"What?" Gourry exclaimed. "Why?"

"Because I just got the hang of this," Lina retaliated. "I want to have a little more fun!" She gunned the throttle straight for Seyruun castle.

"YOU'RE GOING TO HIT!" Amelia screamed.

Lina pulled up at the very last second.

Amelia looked like she was losing her very soul and Gourry was clutching onto the pilot's seat for dear life. Zelgadis merely sighed.

"Lina, can we skip the stunts until you are better at piloting first?" Bakki asked politely.

"Why not?" Lina chipped. "I'm having fun!"

"BECAUSE IF YOU CRASH THE SHIP, YOU'LL CAUSE ME FURTHER DELAYS!" Bakki said, putting Lina in a choke hold. The ship began to veer heavily to the right.

"WAAAAAH!"

"Autopilot!"

The joysticks went limp and the ship self-righted.

"I think we should call it a day," Bakki sighed. "Maryland, take us back to Seyruun castle."

"Aye, aye, captain."

Bakki had not allowed Lina back aboard his ship for three whole days. He had allowed Gourry on the next day, but ended up kicking him off as well after Gourry nearly managed to knick the side of a mountain top. Bakki had nearly ripped the blonde's hair off for that particular incident. Amelia was given a 'permit' for her skills, but Bakki made excuses to not fly with her.

Zelgadis, on the other hand, was given permission to take the ship out on his own. In fact, that man was starting to fly without Bakki's guidance. Furthermore, Bakki had even allowed him to go on a solo trip. No one had been entirely certain on where he would go, but he returned with the Book of Xoana that afternoon so it didn't take much to guess.

Bakki, in the meantime, was studying the world he was visiting. His excuse was that he needed to know exactly how he would depart from this world when the time came. He was full of questions about anything and everything involving the atmosphere to the gravity and magic for the Red World almost to the point that Lina and everyone else were starting to get annoyed. What was worse was that with each answer came another question.

"Is there any leftover residue from the former shield that used to cover these kingdoms?"

"Just how much did Darkstar's death affect the magical stability around the region of the gateway?"

"What was the fate of the Fire Dragon King and how did it balance the distribution of power amongst the Gods and Mazuko?"

"When Hellmaster Phibrizzo was killed, exactly how did that affect the Mazuko shield that led to its disbanding?"

"Just how many magical barriers, ones that may affect energy flows and patterns of this world, were cast over major geological regions of this world in the last 1,000 years?"

Not even the high mages of Seyruun had answers to half of his questions, let alone Lina and her group. In fact, Lina was making it a point to avoid Bakki whenever he appeared anywhere in her vicinity. Meanwhile, Amelia cracked after three whole days of questioning and went around the castle singing of cherry cakes from the Kataart Mountains. Gourry, of course, was not affected since intellect slipped his mind on a regular basis and questions usually just bounced off his skin.

Zelgadis, on the other hand, made it his troubles to go and try to find out the answers to Bakki's questions. Lina was genuinely surprised to see Zelgadis, often with rosy cheeks, going about the castle looking for mages, historians, and whoever else could possibly be of help to the demigod. A couple times, Lina thought that she even caught him staring at Bakki from across a room or a hall. Her suspicions mounted until she finally confronted him.

"Okay, fess up," she said, slamming both hands on either side of him against a wall.

"About what?" he asked coyly.

"Don't play innocent!" Lina declared. "I know that something's up with you."

"What makes you say that," Zelgadis shot back, annoyed now.

"I've seen you staring at Bakki whenever you think he's not watching."

Zelgadis blushed a deep crimson. "WHA-WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"I mean exactly what I said. What is up with you?"

"Well… I…"

"Come clean now!"

"…"

Lina had a hunch, but wasn't so sure about it. She recalled that the only person thus far that Zelgadis had ever shown interest in was a man in drag, though he didn't know that Miwan was in drag at the time. There had never been a female that he had shown some sort of interest to.

"You like him, don't you?" Lina asked bluntly.

"Wha—I couldn't—"

"Couldn't what? You've only once ever acted like this towards someone. What else could it be?"

Zelgadis fell silent. He even pulled his hood over his head.

"Now, now, there is no need for that," Lina sighed, attempting to pull the hood off of him. He held it tightly over his head. "Zel! I'm saying that I don't care!"

Zelgadis crumbled to the floor holding himself tightly. "I… I don't know what it is, but I feel myself drawn to him."

"So that makes him the second guy that you've shown interest towards," Lina stated.

"Second?" Zelgadis interjected. "When did I ever show interest towards another guy?" he argued.

"Miwan," Lina spat. "You followed him around thinking that it was a girl, but turned out to be a guy, remember?"

"But, but she—he smelled really nice!"

Lina furrowed her eyebrows at that statement. "Smelled nice? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I—I don't know, but he smelled really nice, and so does Bakki—"

"Ah!" It just occurred to Lina what smell had to do with anything. "Pheromones! You liked their pheromones! Even though you thought Miwan was a woman, you liked her because he had male pheromones!"

Zelgadis, if possible, was turning even redder. "PHEROMONES? Wha-what could that have to do with anything?"

"Everything!" Lina barked. "Pheromones are involved when someone finds another person attractive! Didn't you know that?" Zelgadis shook his head. "Well, that's just how it is. Like with me, I like Gourry's—" She stopped herself short, but it was too late.

"Gourry?" Zelgadis balked, his mouth ajar now.

"Forget I said that!" Lina screamed. "Gourry and I have nothing going on!"

"But you just said—"

"I don't care what I said! The point is, you like Bakki's pheromones and he's a guy, so you're into guys!"

This last declaration seemed to weaken Zelgadis considerably. He put his arms around his legs and held himself closely.

"Zel? You okay?"

He didn't move at all in reaction. "I… I don't know what's wrong with me. Why do I like guys?"

"Uh, Zel, people just have different tastes."

"But…he's a guy, and I'm a guy."

"He's like that, too, remember? But it doesn't matter since he's married."

Zel's eyes widened at the remark.

"If he's a demigod, imagine his husband. He'd probably rip you to shreds for coming onto him."

Zelgadis hugged himself more tightly.

"Oh, whatever. Zel, you're still my friend and I don't care what you like. Although I've never had to deal with something like this—aside from a gay dragon off the coast of Sandoria—I really don't care one way or another what you are into. It's not like that's going to harm me or something." Lina pulled his arms apart and picked him up to his feet. "I'll keep this a secret, though, if you want me to," she affirmed. "I don't know how Gourry would be, but I know Bakki would probably not be comfortable about it. Plus, Amelia would have a fit over you being interested in someone besides her."

Zelgadis' face faulted. "She does come onto me quite a bit even though I don't return her feelings."

Lina frowned. "Yeah, it was getting really annoying from my point of view to see her do it without success, but at least I know why now." Zel blushed again. "Lighten up, buddy. We'll figure out how to break it to everyone and maybe even find someone for you."

"What? No, no, no, no! You don't have to do that—"

"What, then should I let you stay focused on a married guy?" Lina said harshly. Her tone did the trick. "Zel, I'll look out for you. For now, though, let's try to pretend that everything is normal, okay? Everyone will start to get worried if you act strangely." Zelgadis nodded very slowly in almost a sad sort of way.

* * *

**~ OUTSIDE SEYRUUN CASTLE ~**

"Oye! Lina!"

Lina had turned tail the moment she had seen Bakki, expecting that he would barge her with more questions. When he called out her name, though, she felt stuck and forced herself to turn around towards him.

"Hey, did you finish dinner already?" Bakki asked her.

"Uh, yeah, I wasn't all that hungry so I didn't eat as much," she replied with some truth in her words. The missing bit was that she had gotten into a fight with Gourry at the dinner table over a particular piece of roast beef that had led her to break the table, resulting in dinner being cut short when the head chef threw them out of the dining hall.

"That's a shame," Bakki commented.

"So…what are you doing out here?" Lina asked.

"Just star-gazing," Bakki responded. "I'm just now getting used to these constellations."

"Ah, that's right. Your world would have completely different stars."

"Mmhmm."

They stood in silence for a moment.

"Say, Bakki, you're a demigod. Do you do premonitions at all?"

"Yes, I do, but it's been a bit offline lately due to being a completely new world."

"How so?"

"Well, for one thing, I don't know yet how to exactly identify all the energies in this world yet. I can feel for the elements and astral plane to know basic stuff, but anything involving the Gods and Mazuko are beyond my reach for now. That being said…" He paused. "I do notice something approaching."

"Something approaching?" Lina whispered sharply.

Bakki nodded. "Ever since I arrived, I noticed a great power in the distance that I could not identify. At first, I assumed that it must be the guiding spirit of these worlds."

"The Lord of Nightmares?"

"Yes, but I've been able to identify that already. Each of the elements, the power of humans, the Mazuko, and the Gods all share a common energy that I have come to recognize as the spirit of the Lord of Nightmares. There is something else, though, that has been growing little by little. It's not a God or a Mazuko, as far as I can tell, but just raw energy that is controlled yet uncontrolled at the same time."

"Where is it coming from?"

"Nowhere and everywhere. It is all around us yet concentrated towards the South, in the direction that I came from."

"The south…"

"Yes. At first, I thought it might just be a reaction to my presence here, but then that energy should have focused around Seyruun. Instead, it is still focused on the south. I cannot get a grasp on it yet as to the source or point of origin, though."

"Why haven't you said anything to us about it?"

"Well, for one thing, it is fading into this realm as if it was meant to be absorbed. Secondly, there is no definitive proof that it is good or bad, so until it was obvious as to what it was, I didn't think I should start a potential panic."

"Fading?"

"More like being absorbed, actually. It seems to be feeding this universe with energy beyond what is needed here."

"What could cause such a phenomena?"

"Hmm," Bakki pondered. "The last time I felt something quite like this, it was because a world was destroyed."

"What?"

Bakki's eyes turned stern. "My realm was composed of several worlds existing within and next to one another. There is the planet Earth itself, where we all lived, but then there was a separate realm of the Gods, Shangri-La, and several sub worlds connected to it including Mt. Olympus and Xibalba. Aside from that, we also had a Hell for demons, both those cast out of Heaven, and those created by either other demons or from their own demonic ways in life. Hell's sub worlds included ones like Naraka, Irkalla, and Yum Gan. Heaven is around and it also had sub worlds such as Aaru and Dilmun. There is also a series of realms built by humans themselves out of spiritual power such as Tenochtitlán, better known as El Dorado thanks to the Spanish, and the shrines for the Akashic Records. Lastly, we have realms of mystic creatures like faeries and dragons, such as Tír na nÓg and Gimlé."

"During a major war against evil many years ago, Hell was destroyed completely along with several sub worlds, including Xibalba, Irkalla, Dilmun, Gimlé, Yum Gan, and several others. When that happened, a huge collection of energy spread and merged into the remaining parts of our world. The effect was not so much seen, but felt for months before it all settled. The result was that the remaining worlds and sub worlds expanded greatly and teemed with fresh energy for all to use. Unfortunately, a side effect was that evil spread where it hadn't existed before. We were reminded that day that everything must always be in balance. Naraka is huge now."

"So what you saying," Lina tried, "is that what you're feeling now is comparable to what happened in your world at that time?"

Bakki nodded. "I would almost bet money that some world was destroyed elsewhere."

Lina felt very uneasy. _'Perhaps Darkstar's world finally collapsed from not having a God and a Monster reign the world,'_ she thought.

"Whatever the case, I've been waiting for further development from the energy before I step forward to do something about it," Bakki stated.

"Can't you do something about it now?" Lina asked.

"I could, but it wouldn't be the wisest choice. If it for certain was due to a world destroyed, then it would just be a matter of distributing the energy rightly so that things remain in balance. If not, then I could just screw up the balance already in existence even though this world is not properly balanced already as is."

"Not balanced?"

Bakki nodded. "There are now three Mazuko lords under Shabranigdo and two gods under Ceiphied. Furthermore, Shabranigdo is in seven pieces while Ceiphied is in four pieces. Those numbers do not match whatsoever. Shabranigdo and Ceiphied need to be in equal numbers while the Mazuko Lords and the Dragon Kings need to be in equal numbers as well before it can balance."

"Mazuko Lords and Dragon Kings in equal numbers…" Lina whispered. "Does that mean we may need to kill another one of them?"

"Perhaps," Bakki sighed. "After all that I have found out about the Mazuko Lords, it doesn't seem easy even for me to kill one of them."

"If you were to kill one of them, which one would you kill?"

Bakki thought about that for a moment. "Great Beast Xellas Metallium. Dynast Grauscherra and Deep Sea Dolphin can balance the elements between the two of them, leaving Xellas Metallium as an extra. Her dominion over beasts is not really a power that is needed."

"However…" Bakki trailed off. "None of the Mazuko Lords and Gods are actually in balance with themselves. The best would be if one Mazuko Lord existed and one God existed."

"What?" Lina gaped. "Which ones?"

"That is to be seen," Bakki replied. "A God and a Devil must also show the strength and mindset of their roles in order to be in their proper place. It will all depend on their personalities as for who should remain in the end. From what I've heard, Dynast Grauscherra is the best choice for a Devil. As for a God, I do not know yet."

Lina couldn't believe what she was hearing. "How could you be so certain? You are from another world! The governing principles are probably different."

"Indeed, I am from a different world, but Gods and Devils remain the same wherever. We discovered that through our interactions with the Azez and Suro worlds. Though Gods and Devils may have different powers in different worlds, their roles and purposes are the same. In fact, Gods are not always good and Devils are not always evil. Gods are simply to keep checks and balances in this world while giving guidance to the living and the dead while Devils are to give alternate choices and actions. Gods are more in favor for the entire world while Devils are in more favor for individuals."

"So then, someone could pray to Shabranigdo and it wouldn't necessarily be for evil?"

"Not necessarily, no, but since Shabranigdo does represent evil in this world, that could be a misfire. From everything I know about Dynast Grauscherra, though, praying to him would not necessarily be for evil despite his powers."

Lina was astounded by all this information. "How do you know so much?"

Bakki lowered his gaze for a moment, appearing to ponder what to say. "If you could be so kind as to keep a bit of a secret…"

"That depends on the secret," Lina confronted.

Bakki shrugged. "Fair enough. Well… I did identify myself as a demigod previously. The truth is that I am actually a half-god."

"Half-god?"

"Yes. My father is the Water God HaBaek of a land called Korea in my world. He is one of several water gods in our realm. My mother was human. My husband, in the meantime, is a god of a land called Nippon. He is the son of their god Kenari, Lord of the dead, while his mother was a faerie."

"A water god and a human… Are they still together?"

Bakki shook his head sadly. "No, they were not allowed to marry all those years ago due to strict laws of the time forbidding gods from taking on human spouses. My mother eventually died and was reborn over and over again until she found a true lover to keep as her own. My husband, Koji, his parents are officially married now. They're a happy family. I'm happy together with them and my father is happy to be a part of it all, so everything is okay."

Lina felt awful for Bakki. She could tell that he was indeed happy with his family, but he was sad about his mother.

"Anyway," he continued. "The point is that I am a half-god myself and have access to many truths kept from humanity. The Lord of Nightmares that you are familiar with is the creator of this world. Likewise, we have a creator for our world. Above them is a creator of creators. There may also be a creator above that, but we don't know for sure."

"I'll let you in on another secret, though. Your Lord of Nightmares: is it a man or woman?"

"Woman," Lina said. "Though she is referred to as a king often, we found out that it's actually a woman."

"Wrong," Bakki said, smiling. "The creators actually do not have genders."

"What?" Lina gawked.

"They are simply beings without gender that are free to create as they wish. Some creators do not create gender differences or even genders entirely, but most like to separate the two out. Why that happened is not entirely known, but it's a trait that picked up in popularity. The design for male and female reproductive systems eventually found a shared design between creators and it all spread throughout the worlds. The reason that most creators are referred to as 'mothers' in various worlds is because most beings have come to recognize one who gives birth as a mother, so despite the lack of gender we refer to our highest Lords as women."

"That is really interesting!" Lina commented. "I honestly had no clue about that. So wait, if they don't have gender, do they even have genitalia?"

"Some do and some don't. Many of them simply do not have anything down there while others like to have one or the other. Some have both. It's a personal choice."

"That honestly is very interesting… I wonder what else is not known to humanity."

Bakki wagged his finger in a very Xellos-like manner. "Not everything can be or need to be known, Lina. There are many secrets that Gods and Devils have that would actually cause huge uprisings from the inhabitants of their worlds. It took quite a lot of work on the part of all of us in my world to settle it all down when the greatest of secrets began to spread out. There are probably many secrets of this world that would probably cause a huge problem for you all should they get known."

Lina was reminded of Valgaav at this moment. She recalled him saying various things just before he died involving the secrets of Gods and Monsters in the worlds of the Lord of Nightmares. She couldn't remember the exact details now, but she knew deep inside that Bakki was right.

* * *

**~ SEYRUUN CASTLE DINING HALL ~**

It was lunchtime when it happened. Lina was biting down into a chicken drumstick when one of the servants in Seyruun castle approached her, interrupting her meal.

"You have a guest, Ms. Inverse."

Lina looked up from her food. "Gwess?"

The servant nodded. "He insists that he talk to you immediately," he said as Lina continued to chomp on her food. "In fact, he would like to speak to all of you as soon as possible."

"Eh, all of us?" Gourry said between bites.

"Who is it?" Zelgadis politely asked. He had been acting a bit more warmly towards everyone in an attempt to take some attention off himself. It was working with mixed results.

"He did not give a name, but he state that he traveled a long distance. He mentioned that you know him and came from the Katahto Mountains."

Lina swallowed. "Katahto Mountains? I don't remember anyone from there."

"He claims to know you."

"In that case…he can see us after we're done eating!" With that, Lina tore into her chicken. Moments later, someone grabbed her by her collar and pulled her off her seat. "HEY!" She managed to grab her chicken before she was taken from the table.

"Come on, it's rude to keep someone waiting, especially one that has traveled so far," Zelgadis said, firming his grip on her collar.

Lina mumbled something with her mouth full. She did not look up to see where she was until she felt herself no longer being dragged.

"You!" she choked.

The man before her smiled. "It has been a long time."

"Milgasia!" Lina, Zel, and Amelia shouted.

"Who is he?" Gourry asked.

Lina smacked him over the head. "He's the golden dragon from Dragon's Peak that took us to the Claire Bible, idiot!"

"Really? I don't remember seeing him before."

"Mr. Milgasia, what are you doing here?" Amelia asked.

"Some important business brings me here, actually," he responded.

"Important business?" Zelgadis repeated.

Milgasia nodded. "Can we find a more private place to talk? Not too many people should hear this matter."

"Wait," Lina interjected. "We should have Bakki around if it's something really important."

"Bakki?" Milgasia asked, looking a bit confused.

"He's a demigod that arrived here recently," Lina explained. "He might need to hear this."

"The Wind Dragon King's orders were to tell only you all and the ruler of this kingdom," Milgasia said firmly.

"That may be, but trust me when I say Bakki would be someone that may need to hear something coming from the Wind Dragon King." Lina then realized something. "The Wind Dragon King? You're working for him now?"

Milgasia nodded. "As I am no longer bound to the Fire Dragon King, I now serve the two remaining Lords of the Dragons."

What was not being stated was that Milgasia was one of the very last Golden Dragons after the incident with Erulogos and Sirius at the temple of the Ancient Dragons.

"I'm guessing that you didn't respond to the call to arms by the Supreme Elder of your race," Lina said.

Milgasia dropped his head slightly and closed his eyes. "As a guardian of the Claire Bible, I wasn't to leave my post. My brethren, however…"

"I understand," Lina stated. Nothing else had to be said for the matter. "Come this way," he added as she walked toward the nearest doors leading outside. Once outdoors, she led the small crowd to where _Maryland_ was currently parked for repairs. Sure enough, Bakki was there overseeing reconstruction.

"Bakki!"

The man called for turned around. "Hey Lina, what's up?"

"We have somebody here from the dragon race that has something important to tell us!"

Bakki seemed to consider this statement deeply. Without a word, he walked towards them and cast a barrier around them.

"I take it that privacy might be needed?"

"Mr. Bakki, what did you do?" Amelia asked, glancing nervously at the barrier around them.

"It's a sound barrier that allows us to hear everything from the outside, but no one can hear us inside here," Bakki explained.

Milgasia looked impressed. "Not even we of the dragon races have such a barrier in our magic."

"So, spill it," Lina demanded. "What's the big news?"

Milgasia's face went blank. "I have a prophecy from the Wind Dragon King."

"A prophecy of destruction again?" Zelgadis asked.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"What?"

Milgasia's face went stern. "_What was four has become two. Chaos has united with his siblings and will come for two more. The light and the dark, and all in between, must unite in order for all to remain. The Golden Sea is open. Draw everything from it to harbor true strength. A fallen star shall guide you to the sword within the temple where all must come together. One must fight one._ That is his prophecy."

"What was four has become two…" Lina whispered. She caught Bakki's gaze and knew that he was thinking of their conversation the night before.

"Most of the prophecy confuses us greatly," Milgasia explained. "The 'light' we assume means the dragon race."

"Just like in the prophecy of the Fire Dragon King," Lina stated.

Milgasia nodded. "Likewise, we believe the 'dark' to mean the Mazuko. 'All in between' is probably in reference to humans and the other races coexisting with humans."

Lina knew that 'coexisting' was a loose term. Humans rarely treated other races in a civil manner.

"'The Golden Sea is open' confuses us the most. That may most likely be in reference to the Lord of Nightmares directly, but we're not sure what to make of 'open.' 'Draw everything from it to harbor true strength' seems self-explanatory." Lina and Zelgadis nodded. "'A fallen star shall guide you to the sword within the temple where all must come together' is also a mystery. The 'fallen star' could mean any number of things, but we do not have a clue as for what exactly it refers to. We are beginning to think, though, that 'sword' is literal. We just have no idea what sword it could mean."

"That is confusing," Lina agreed. "Since the Sword of Light is gone, it could mean any sword of power that may still be around, but most likely it is talking about a sword of some legendary power that is hidden in any one of the kingdoms."

"As for temple," Zelgadis picked up, "it might be talking about the temple of the Ancient Dragons."

Lina nodded. "Since that is where we fought off Darkstar last time, it could be a place that the prophecy is speaking about as a sort of final stand-off point."

"As for 'one must fight one,' we don't even know where to begin," Milgasia stated. "The last time this world was in impending doom, many of you had to gather and draw power into one spell in order to fight off a merged source of power."

"Darkstar and Volphied were merged before arriving here," Amelia said. "And then Valgaav merged together with them."

"As for us, there was the five of us wielding the Darkstar weapons," Zelgadis continued. "There was also Xellos to represent the Mazuko race and call on the power of Shabranigdo."

"And Filia was there to represent the Gods and draw power from Ceiphied," Lina added.

"You acted as the representative of humanity to cast the chaos words and fire the spell at our enemy," Zelgadis noted.

Lina nodded.

"In any case," Milgasia went on. "Something that worries the Wind Dragon King is that this prophecy seems to speak of a power greater than the last one that threatened our world."

"What?" Lina, Zel, Amelia, and Gourry shouted.

"Last time, the prophecy called for a human to bring together the power of the Gods and the Mazuko. This time, the prophecy calls for all to unite in order to fight off the threat."

"Meaning that what we're facing this time is most likely far more powerful than Darkstar," Lina grunted. "Aww, man, why do we always end up with things like this?"

Bakki cleared his throat. "Do you have any idea as for what the first part of the prophecy may mean?"

Milgasia looked Bakki dead in the eye. "This world only has two Dragon Kings left. We believe the prophecy, given and worded by the Wind Dragon King, may be reminding us of how desperate the Gods are in their attempts to balance their power with the Mazuko."

"That is a possibility," Bakki said. "But there is another possibility."

"What?" It was Milgasia's turn to be surprised.

"I was just discussing this matter with Lina last night," Bakki elucidated. "This realm has four worlds, does it not?" Milgasia nodded. "Suppose two of those worlds were destroyed."

Milgasia's expression turned to shock. "How could that even be possible?"

Bakki explained the details of his conversation with Lina the night before regarding worldly destruction and fading of power over the remaining worlds. Milgasia took heavy consideration over Bakki's words.

"If that is the case, we may have a bigger catastrophe on our hands than what we originally thought!" Milgasia cried. "What could possibly destroy two whole worlds?"

"The prophecy stated that 'the Golden Sea is open,'" Bakki thought aloud. "I construe it to mean three possible things. The first is that something has loosed the power of the Lord of Nightmares, be it under her own will or by another's. This power would be enough to destroy a world or two. The second possible rationalization is that the Lord of Nightmares lost control of her own powers. This unfastened power probably brought about the destruction of two worlds. This power would further be a threat to the remaining two worlds and requires the unification of all that live in order to defend existence as you know it. The third possibility is that the Lord of Nightmares is simply uncontrollable at this time due to the destruction of the two worlds, whatever the cause may be. This slack of her power must be brought to control in order to prevent the destruction of the remaining two worlds, requiring all to unite in order to bring her under control.

"Whatever the case, we are to use the power of the Lord of Nightmares in order to stop continued destruction," Bakki continued. "That is a deduction to take from 'Draw everything from it to harbor true strength.'"

Everyone stood silent for a moment. The possibilities all seemed to make sense, but none of them were pleasant. If indeed the Lord of Nightmares was uncontrolled at this time, even considering that she was the embodiment of chaos, it was certainly an emergency for all who lived.

"We need to tell my father!" Amelia screamed.

"Right," Lina agreed. "Something like this must be known to everyone in order for us to plan out what we must do."

Without another word, everyone turned towards Seyruun castle. The barrier Bakki put up dissolved into thin air as he formed a watery disc large enough for everyone to stand upon. Everyone simply jumped on top of it in responsive action. The disc carried them up to the higher halls of the castle.

'_If we are right about the prophecy, we may already be too late to make a difference,'_ Lina thought. _'It took us everything we had to defeat Darkstar. What will it take for us to bring down whatever it is headed for us? We have to tell Phil immediately!'_

* * *

* Shangri-La is of Chinese and Tibetan origin for the land of paradise often believed to be the home of Gods.

* Mt. Olympus was the home of the Gods in Greek Mythology.

* Xibalba was the underworld for the Mesoamericans.

* Naraka was a hell-like realm from Hinduism with shared influence into Chinese, Korean, and Japanese mythology. Yum Gan is more or less the Chinese term for Naraka.

* Irkalla is the hell from Sumerian myth.

* Aaru is a peaceful underworld governed by Osiris of Egypt.

* Dilmun is a peaceful paradise of Gods and the dead from Sumerian mythology—also believed to be location of the Garden of Eden.

* Tenochtitlán is believed to be the center of origin for the Olmec civilization.

* The Akashic Records, or the "Book of Life," is believed to be divine knowledge over life and death in Japanese mythology. Many people believe that through hypnosis and astral projections, the Akashic Records can be accessed.

* Tír na nÓg is an otherworld of Irish mythology believed to be a land of faeries and other mystic beings.

* Gimlé, of Norse mythology, is a place that the survivors of Ragnarök lived.

* Azez is a supposed alien race associated with leaving energy on Earth and bringing a 'new light' in the future. I just randomly chose Suro as a name.


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER – **I do not own anything from **_**The **__**Slayers!, Slayers Next, Slayers Try, Slayers the Motion Picture, Slayers Return, Slayers Great, Slayers Gorgeous, Slayers Premium, Slayers the Book of Spells, Slayers EVOLUTION, Slayers EVOLUTION-R **_**or **_**Lost Universe.**_** Bakki/Hyeonsook, Dolomova, Gnomesta, Salamanda, Spritea, Sylfesta, Nacreous, and Night Terror are my original characters. The Wind Dragon King, the Earth Dragon King, Dynast Grauscherra, Deep Sea Dolphin, and Zellas Metallium are not my original characters in concept, but they are more or less original to my physical design and characteristics since they never made full appearances in the original storylines. **_**Maryland**_** and Maryland are mine. All spells introduced by Bakki/Hyeonsook in this story were my own compositions. Luo Glaon is not an original character, but his talisman is an original idea. Kymaziphied & Verhevenphied are names I came up with since the original story never introduced the names of the two ruling gods aside from Ceiphied and Vorphied. "Myacraligdo" & "Necruwigdo" were also my original ideas for the full names of Death Fog and Chaotic Blue. All chants for spells originally from the saga that are used in this fanfiction are the translated versions found in the subtitles on DVD for the entire saga. Finally, the concept of how **_**The Slayers!**_** Saga ends and how **_**Lost Universe **_**begins in this two part fanfiction is my original idea. Ask permission before you use an idea off this fiction for your own.**

AUTHOR'S NOTE – _Again, __underlined font is in English**. ****Crimean Collapse** is my original spell._**  
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_**Chapter 3: CURIOUS! What is Xellos doing here?**_

**~ COURTROOM INSIDE SEYRUUN CASTLE ~**

It had taken Philionel all of six days to gather emissaries from all of his neighboring kingdoms plus others farther away that had diplomatic connections to Seyruun. The Dukedom of Lyzeille and the Empire of Elmekia were still too far to have emissaries reach Seyruun in that time, so it had been decided to send letters by Phil himself, with Bakki's editing, to explain the details of the current situation. The Kingdom of Dils had been unable to send an emissary, but the king had sent a letter of good intent to explain that his country was in hard times and he couldn't afford to send out any of his men. Amelia had been furious that Dils didn't make light of the gravity of contemporary situations, but Philionel calmed her down.

Philionel was now seated above the podium set for Milgasia. The dragon had been asked to explain the understandings of the prophecy to the gathered council. As such, Milgasia stood at his place going in detail about the prophecy of the Wind Dragon King. Bakki stood waiting next to him for his turn, which didn't come for nearly two hours. When he was called forward, Bakki made sure to explain further than Milgasia did of his interpretations of the prophecy.

As expected, Bakki faced many opposing views. He countered arguments left and right and managed to shut up most people. One person, however, was stubborn to the very end.

"Wizer Freion, of Ruvinagald."

Lina's face disfigured at the sound of the voice. _'Oh God, not him…'_

"Your explanations make sense in almost every way," Wizer stated. "However, I just cannot bring myself to believe in them." There was a stir of murmuring that followed his statement.

"And why is that?" Bakki asked politely. Those in the crowd couldn't notice, but Lina and Zelgadis both saw a fire burning in Bakki's eyes.

"I have no definitive reason to trust you," Wizer proclaimed. "As far as I know, you are not a representative or a priest of Seyruun nor the dragons. Therefore, you do not hold credibility behind your words and stance. Just who are you?"

Bakki's body flashed silver as he lifted into the air with an invisible force. Wizer and many others backed away and covered their eyes from the brightness.

"I am a visitor to your world, human," Bakki said in an echoing tone. "To you, I may be nothing, but know that you speak to a demigod of the planet Earth outside of your realm. I know truths that you cannot imagine. Though I may not know your world, I know enough that I can see danger ahead for this world. Take my word to heed, human. It may save your life."

Wizer stopped shading his eyes and stood his ground. "Prove to us, then, that you are some powerful enough to declare such things us."

"Mr. Wizer," Philionel said as he stepped up. "Mr. Bakki here has been able to set such powerful barriers around this entire city that no one of monster origin has been able to enter—not even from the astral plane. Isn't that enough to prove his power?"

"No," Wizer stated flatly. "I do not doubt your words, Prince Philionel, but barriers alone do not constitute power."

Lina sighed. Wizer had always been unreasonable in his words and actions.

"In other words," Bakki said in the same echoing tone. "You want to see me not only block out the unwanted, but to destroy it as well."

Wizer narrowed his eyes further. "That would certainly seem like a reasonable request."

Bakki hovered in silence for a few moments. "Very well then," he said after a while. "I shall lower the barrier in the western part of Seyruun. Whatever Mazuko may enter that part of the city will be met with accordingly. Would that satisfy you?"

Wizer smirked. "For now."

* * *

**~ WESTSIDE OF SEYRUUN CITY ~**

"Don't let him get to you, Bakki," Lina suggested. "That guy has a way of just getting under everyone's skin. He listens to no reason whatsoever."

Bakki's expression did not soften at her words. "I'm sorry, Lina, I know that I am very unbecoming of me right now, but I'm not backing down to some arrogant fool so quickly."

"Eh, you men and power," Lina said, shrugging. "I guess even gay guys have masculinity issues."

"Hey!" Bakki half-twirled towards Lina, his face flushed. "What the hell do you mean by that?" he screamed.

"Well, what else is this aside from guys comparing the size of their balls?" Lina questioned.

Bakki blushed a little more brightly. "You do have somewhat of a point, but you have no right to compare me to typical men!"

Lina giggled and patted Bakki on the head. "It's alright to be compared to others once in a while, you know?"

Zelgadis had an uncomfortable look on his face. "Do you think that he looked down on you because…well…"

"Because he thought Bakki was so girly?" Lina finished for him. Zel nodded.

Bakki sighed. "That would be a possibility. Many men, and some women, have often tried to put me down because of how girly I appear and sound. I try not to let it bother me, though. Most people usually don't say anything directly to my face or try to push me down since my husband would send them to the next world if they said the wrong thing, but right now…I guess I am on my own."

Lina understood what concerned Zelgadis. She had chosen the word 'girly' even though she figured Zelgadis meant 'gay.' He wasn't doing a good job at the moment of hiding his personal concerns over his own secret. It also bothered Lina that Bakki seemed to have too much of an understanding look in his eyes as he put a hand on Zelgadis' shoulder.

"Don't worry, I never let that get the best of me," he said reassuringly. He gave Zelgadis a smile. "What such people think of me matters not in the least. As long as I have friends and family that love me for who I am, that is all that I need."

Zel gasped quietly at those words. Bakki winked at him and turned around. Lina figured he was saving Zelgadis some embarrassment.

"More importantly," Bakki trailed off as he pointed a finger up into the sky. A beam of light exited his hand and struck an invisible target in midair. Moments later, a spatial rift opened up and a Mazuko fell out of it and onto the ground. It dissolved into nothing a few seconds later.

Bakki turned with a smug look on his face towards Wizer, who was standing a good thirty feet away. Wizer didn't look fazed at all by Bakki's actions, though.

"Where are all these Mazuko coming from?" he shouted.

Bakki shrugged. "They have been gathering around this city ever since I put up my barriers. They are probably dying to know if this city is hiding a huge secret or something."

"No, I think there may be another reason."

"Huh?" Lina expressed.

Wizer took a stance and pointed at Lina. "Lina Inverse! You are calling all these Mazuko to this city, are you not?"

Lina fell to the ground. "WHY THE HELL WOULD I BE DOING THAT? I DON'T EVEN KNOW THIS MANY MAZUKO!"

"Oh, so you admit that you know the Mazuko!" Wizer inferred.

"GAH! YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ANYTHING I SAY!"

"That is out of the question!" Wizer declared. "Why should I ever listen to anything that you say?"

"So then, why would I bring all these Mazuko to Seyruun?" Lina asked.

"That is simple!" Wizer took a different stance. "IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE LINA INVERSE!"

Lina crashed face-first into the ground.

"Honestly, can he not do better than that?" Zelgadis whispered, rubbing his temple.

"YOU ARE A VILLAIN TO THE ENTIRE WORLD! YOU WOULD BRING ABOUT DESTRUCTION ONTO ALL THAT IS LIVING! IT IS ASSUMABLE THAT YOU WOULD KNOW THIS MANY MAZUKO AND UNLEASH THEM UPON THIS WORLD!"

"CUT IT OUT!" Lina screeched as she kicked Wizer's face down into the rocks below him. "HOW DO YOU ALWAYS COME TO THAT CONCLUSION?"

"If you would be so kind, Lina," Bakki stated, looking past her, "could you please step back for a minute? We appear to have a guest."

At these words, everyone turned their eyes to the sky above them. Barely hidden in the sunlight coming directly down onto them was a figure that several of them recognized.

"You!" Milgasia shouted.

"Xellos!" Zelgadis said after him.

"What is he doing here?" Lina chipped in.

Xellos phased in directly before Lina and her friends.

"Xellos, what brings you here?" Lina asked.

Xellos kept his usual smile. "Why, Lina-chan, I had hoped to run into you here."

"Run into me?"

"Yes, for you are the very person I wished to meet."

"Ahah!" Wizer exclaimed. "Lina Inverse, you now cannot deny that you are calling the Mazuko here!"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Lina screamed as she kicked Wizer into a wall on the opposite side of the crowd.

"Lively as ever I see," Xellos proclaimed ever so cheerfully.

"Just get to your point!" Lina demanded.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." Xellos then did something rarely seen by anyone—he opened his eyes. "I was sent here directly by the beautiful and powerful Great Beast Xellas Metallium."

"Xellas Metallium?" Lina and Zelgadis gasped.

Xellos nodded. "There is a situation that we may need your help for, you see."

"Does it have anything to do with the possible end of the world we might be facing?" Lina questioned.

"Huh? You already know about that?"

Lina grinned and pointed at Milgasia. "The dragons already told us about it."

"Ah, I see! In that case, this makes things easier." Xellos' expression turned wicked. "Since we are facing doom for us all, why don't you join us?"

Everyone's jaw dropped at the comment.

"JOIN YOU?" Lina cried.

Xellos nodded. "There is no point in you taking sides with a weak race like the dragons. If you became a Mazuko like me, your power would multiply several times and you could be a truly valuable asset to us all. That may also just balance the scales so that we Mazuko could prevent whatever it is that may come at us."

Lina shook inside. _'Join the Mazuko; is he crazy? Like hell I would do such a thing!'_

"Xellos, I believe you were there when Lina saved the world last time?" Milgasia asked the question.

"Why, of course I was," Xellos stated. "I saw what she was capable of then and before that. I believe you were there when she was fighting the rebel Dragon Gaav?"

Milgasia remained expressionless. "What she did then was possible because of the joining powers by both the Gods and the Mazuko. You cannot possibly take her away and harbor her strength for yourself and your race."

"And will you try to stop me if I take her away?"

Milgasia looked uneasy. Lina and her friends recalled that it had been Milgasia who had warned them of Xellos' true power and nature.

"You can't! That is not what the prophecy says!" Milgasia defended.

"Prophecy?"

"Yes, the prophecy by the Wind Dragon King!"

"Ah, so you dragons have come up with another bit of information to the future."

"_What was four has become two. Chaos has united with his siblings and will come for two more. The light and the dark, and all in between, must unite in order for all to remain. The Golden Sea is open. Draw everything from it to harbor true strength. A fallen star shall guide you to the sword within the temple where all must come together. One must fight one."_

"Hmm…seems similar to the one by the Fire Dragon King," Xellos commented. Milgasia explained what they had figured so far of the prophecy. "Well, as it may be, we don't have reason to believe that the Lord of Nightmares is currently unstable."

"What?" Milgasia inquired.

"If the Lord of Nightmares was unstable, that would greatly affect my master's powers, would it not? Since her powers remain the same, it can be assumed that the Lord of Nightmares is the same as ever."

"Meaning that the prophecy simply could be meaning for us to draw in the power of the Lord of Nightmares in order to fight off the coming force," Bakki stated.

Xellos turned his eyes onto Bakki. "Might you be the one who put up the barriers around Seyruun?" Bakki nodded. "I have no recollection of meeting you or feeling your energy before. Where might you be from?"

Bakki had a smug smile. "That is a secret."

Xellos' head hung low. Lina and Zelgadis choked back laughter. It felt so good to see that phrase being thrown back at Xellos for a change.

"In that case, I will have to ask you to step out of the way," Xellos declared as he righted himself.

"You still intend to take Lina with you?" Bakki asked.

"Of course, for those were my orders," Xellos stated.

"In that case, I will prevent you from carrying out those orders," Bakki announced.

In the blink of an eye, Xellos extended his staff out in front of him and fired at Bakki. Bakki simply did not react as the shot bounced off his body.

"Not bad, if I may be so bold as to state," the demigod sniggered. Xellos took another shot at him, one that Bakki simply absorbed this time. "Needs a little more kick to it."

Xellos' smile disappeared. It was replaced instead by tentacles of dark energy springing out of nothingness behind him. Xellos was unleashing his power. Not a moment later, Xellos fired a deafening blast of dark energy at Bakki from all directions. Bakki merely stood his ground as it all came crashing down on him.

Xellos smiled. "It seems that you are caught in a bind." His smile disappeared when the darkness flashed into silver light and disappeared. "Impossible!"

"I'm terribly sorry, but this is starting to get really boring," Bakki yawned. He swung his staff at Xellos in such a speed that no one was able to see his actions. Xellos wasn't prepared at all when an invisible wave of energy slammed him against a nearby wall and shoved him through as if it were butter. Before he could react, his body was carried against his will by an invisible force towards Bakki. He struggled to escape the hold, but to no avail.

"Your attack was powerful, little Xellos, but such power really is nothing to me," Bakki said. "Here's a small example of what I can do." The gems on Bakki's staff glowed the colors of the visible spectrum. "_Time lost in history, bring forth from your records the water that destroyed all it came upon. __**CRIMEAN COLLAPSE!**_"

Water of unfathomable power and quantity erupted from around Bakki and hurtled onto Xellos at point blank range. The Mazuko simply disappeared into the waves as the water crashed through the outer wall of the city. Bakki snapped his fingers and the water changed course to fly into the air. It turned into a huge fountain as it lunged Xellos out of sight into the atmosphere.

"Not so fast!" Bakki shouted as he snapped his fingers. Xellos was teleported directly in front of him. Bakki grabbed Xellos and brought him up to his face. "Tell your master this: a holy man is here to stop your plots. If you wish to survive, then contact Dynast Grauscherra and Deep Sea Dolphin and bring them to me. Is that understood?" Xellos grunted in pain. "Now get out of here," Bakki said as he opened up a spatial rift and threw Xellos into it.

"Captain!" Maryland screamed as she appeared right next to Bakki.

Bakki smiled. "_Time that has passed, be called back once more._"

'_That spell!'_ Lina thought. _'Rezo used it to repair the my room at the inn where I first met him!'_

A flash and a moment later, the damage done by Bakki during his short fight with Xellos was completely repaired.

"If you can do such a spell, why don't you repair your ship with it?" Zelgadis asked.

"I wish I could, but the spell requires for you to reverse something that happened in this realm," Bakki explained.

"What?"

"The majority of the damage done was caused by the crashing asteroids and the explosion that took place as we entered your world. Since it was outside the boundaries of the space and time of your world, this spell cannot repair the ship."

"Furthermore," Maryland picked up. "The captain has a similar spell from his world that he can use, but his version of the spell requires all original parts to be available for the spell to work. Since the parts we are replacing now were lost in space before we entered your world, we have to go about manual means to repair fully."

"It's unfortunate, but oh well," Bakki sighed. He then turned and boomed at Wizer. "Do you need to see more from me to prove my power and credibility?"

"No," Wizer stated. "I'm not so blind as to not notice the fear that Milgasia showed at that Mazuko. For a dragon to do so speaks for itself on how powerful of a Mazuko that creature was. For you to defeat him so easily, however, proves what you are capable of.

"That being said, though, I must ask…who is she?" Wizer was pointing at Maryland.

"Her?" Bakki piped. He looked up at the sky. "You see that ship floating in the sky?"

Wizer looked up. "That is a ship? Where are its masts and rigging? How is it floating up there?"

"That is a ship not of this world, Wizer, so you do not need to know the full details. What's important about it is that Maryland here is that ship's soul."

"Soul?"

"Yes, soul. Ships from world contain souls. These souls can be projected outside of the body of the ship at the ship's will and take on human appearances."

Lina, Zelgadis, and Amelia already knew what Maryland already was, but they figured that Bakki's new explanation would just cut to the chase better than the actual truth.

"Captain! I am detecting multiple life signs approaching us from various angles and origins!"

"Are they coming from the astral plane?"

"Some are and some aren't. Your orders, captain?"

"Wait until they are all within visual from here."

"Aye, aye!"

Indeed, many figures appeared in the open air above the section where Bakki had taken down his barrier.

"Mazuko!"

"I've always wanted to say this," Bakki chortled. "Maryland, prepare a full phasor spread on all elevations, all banks on my mark," Bakki commanded.

"Roger. Ready, captain!"

"Fire!"

Before everyone's eyes, _Maryland_ shot laser beams in every conceivable direction around her from what appeared to be a series of black pads that surrounded the midline of the entire ship. When the explosions cleared up, there was no Mazuko left in sight. Bakki raised his hand in the air and performed a gesture of sorts. The barrier that had been lifted earlier replaced itself.

* * *

**~ SEYRUUN CASTLE ~**

"The council has decided to meet again tomorrow," Philionel said.

"Ugh, so after everything today, nothing was decided?" Lina asked.

"I'm afraid so," Philionel sighed. "No matter how important of a matter it may be, it is difficult to get delegates of any kind to agree to anything. At the last gathering of this sort, it was easy to convince people to send out an expedition to the outer world since everyone was fearful of a possible threat. This time, though, fear alone isn't doing the trick since no one seems to know of what to do."

"Isn't gathering all forces together the best place to start?" Zelgadis asked.

"What good would that do?" Gourry asked.

"Eh?" everyone puffed out.

"If it's something like a Mazuko, regular weapons used by armies wouldn't do any good. And since magic didn't seem to do any good to Dark-whatever his name was, it probably wouldn't help us this time either."

In the few occasions where this happened, Lina could not get over Gourry's ability to draw such conclusions from his puny mind. Zelgadis and Amelia were the same.

Bakki looked impressed. "That may be so, but it is still probably a good idea to gather forces in from all over for a stance."

"Power in numbers?" Lina asked.

Bakki nodded. "Even if such numbers do not help in the end, it is still probably a good idea to have as many heads working to think of possible solutions to the problem."

"There is something in that," Philionel agreed. "Leave it to the hero to come up with that idea! I'll be sure to send out letters to the kingdoms immediately in order to have more people for the coming meetings."

"You expect this council to take that much longer?" Bakki asked, looking a bit bummed.

Philionel nodded. "This crowd is always very head-strong and stubborn. I expect this to last nearly a week, probably longer if more members join the meeting."

Lina dropped her head. She hated politics for a reason.

"In any case, we should prepare for the coming days," Bakki commented.

"Right," Lina said, regaining herself. "We'll leave the dirty work to Phil since this is his area of expertise. Milgasia, what are you planning to do?"

The dragon had been in the background the whole time. "My duty was to report to you and other humans who could be of help in this matter. I really don't have much else to do."

"Do you have to go back to Dragon's Peak?" Amelia asked.

"Not immediately," Milgasia answered. "I could stay a few days to see how things go about. After that, I'll have to head back to the Wind Dragon King and tell him what has been happening."

"Can we come with you?" Amelia asked.

"It's probably for the best that only a few of us should go if any of us do," Bakki stated.

Lina agreed. "We don't know how things will turn out, so maybe just Bakki or I should go."

"I'll do it," Bakki volunteered. "Would one of you care to come along? Perhaps Zelgadis?"

"Me?" Zel piped.

"Yes, you," Bakki confirmed. "Lina should stay since she has a way of getting points across should Philionel need some support. Amelia, of course, should be around since she is the princess of this kingdom. Gourry wouldn't want to leave Lina behind. That leaves you, Zelgadis, to come along and hear what is going on with your own ears and give your perspective where it may be needed."

"I suppose," Zelgadis said weakly.

Lina narrowed her eyes. Zelgadis instinctively looked over at her and caught her warning glare. He nervously nodded.

* * *

**~ LATER, OUTSIDE ON THE CASTLE GROUNDS ~**

"Say, Lina? What was up with you earlier?"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Gourry?"

"Well…" Gourry put his hand to his chin while pondering. "You are Zel were behaving strangely when Bakki asked him to come along."

"Gah!" Lina gasped. She hadn't expected Gourry to be so perceptive of the moment. "Did I really act strangely?"

Gourry nodded.

"You must have been imagining things!" Lina hurried out. "Why would I act weirdly at such a moment?"

"I don't know, but you just seemed that way," Gourry defended his statement. "Zelgadis, too."

Lina was getting a bit nervous. As stupid as Gourry was, he did have his moments of sudden intelligence. He had displayed such a moment less than an hour ago, so he wasn't scheduled for another such moment for some time to come, but the fact remained that he was never predictable for such incidents.

"Nah, I think you're just imagining things," Lina laughed.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Lina cackled. "Everything's normal."

"Well, okay, I'll believe you," Gourry said. "I just hope Zelgadis gets the courage to be honest about his feelings."

"Yeah, you know, that would be nice." It took Lina five full seconds to register what was just said. "Wha-wha-wha-what did you just say?"

"Huh? I said that I hope Zelgadis came accept his feelings."

Lina's form—not just her jaw—dropped two whole feet. "How did you…know…?"

"You mean about Zelgadis? I knew for a long time."

"HOW LONG?" Lina asked, grabbing Gourry by his armor and pulling him close.

"I've known ever since we went through that one town with the bunch of guys wearing dresses. He was interested in that princess or priestess guy, remember?"

"Well, well, yeah, he did, but—"

"And since he never showed any interest towards you, Amelia, Filia, or even Sylphiel, I figured that he liked guys," Gourry reasoned. "It didn't bother me since he didn't try anything on me."

"Ah…I see…" The reasoning was very dumb, but Lina was relieved that Gourry was okay with the whole ordeal. "Well, that's a good thing. Yeah, Zel is gay, but I don't care either. Plus, Bakki is, too."

"Yeah, so the two of them could get together then, right?" Gourry piped up happily.

"Eh? No! Of course not!"

"Why not?"

"Because Bakki is married, that's why!"

"He is?"

"Yeah, he told us that on the first night we met him, remember?"

"He did, huh? I don't remember that."

"Gah! How could you figure out that Zel is gay, but not remember such a simple thing that Bakki told us?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

Lina hung her head. "That's not a surprise." She sighed. "Well, it's good that you don't care, but you have to keep this a secret from Amelia."

"You don't have to tell me that," Gourry said rather sourly. "I don't want to imagine how much she would freak out if she found out. She can already be so loud and annoying when it comes to Zelgadis."

"You got that right," Lina agreed. "She was so annoying in Femile when Zelgadis ran after Miwan. Worse was at the temple of Mt. Coronay when she got coupled up with you and I was with Zelgadis."

"Let's not imagine just how bad she would be if she finds out that he's gay."

"Yeah… In the meantime, Gourry, do me a favor."

"Eh, what is it Lina?"

"Before Zelgadis leaves with Bakki, give him some sort of discreet sign that you know about him, but that you're okay with it."

"Why do I need to do that?" There was no negative intent in his tone.

"It's because he's going through a tough time right now dealing with it. He needs to know that you are fine with how he is. It's something you should do for him as a friend."

"Really? Okay, I don't know why you're saying that, but I will anyways."

Lina smiled. "Thanks, Gourry." She cracked a huge grin and leaked out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Gourry asked.

"I was just thinking about that time that he put on makeup to try to enter a brass racquets competition…ah, well you wouldn't remember anyways."

"Well, I do remember how pretty he looked as a girl."

"Pfft, yeah, he was pretty, but that was just so funny, too."

The two just laughed a bit more as they headed for the dining hall.

* * *

**~ NORTHSIDE OF SEYRUUN, REPAIR SITE FOR **_**MARYLAND ~**_

"Thanks for the map, Amelia," Bakki said.

"You're welcome, Mr. Bakki!"

Bakki had been overseeing the repairs to his ship when Amelia had arrived. Earlier in the day, he had asked the princess for a map covering the inner world where Seyruun and its neighboring lands were located. After receiving it, he immediately laid it out and starting plotting lines across it.

"What are you up to?" Lina asked walking up to him. She was gnawing on a piece of chicken.

"Oh, hey Lina. I'm just plotting out evacuation routes."

"Evacuation routes?"

Bakki sighed. "We don't know yet what is coming and what these kingdoms will do to prepare for it, but it is best to prepare for the absolute worst."

Lina stopped chewing for a moment. She hadn't thought that far ahead yet since she rarely backed out of a fight before. However, she hadn't taken into consideration that this involved countless other people. Furthermore, evacuation of a major city was something she had never conceived or witnessed.

She swallowed. "Do you think it may come to that?"

Bakki sighed and looked up from the map. "Unfortunately, I have no idea. However, I get the feeling that you yourself are troubled by the prophecy." Lina visibly twitched. "If something from just a prophecy could get you that worried, you who defeated Gaav, Phibrizzo, and Darkstar, then I think we should prepare for the worst case scenario."

Lina wasn't sure what to say back so she simply nodded.

"Perhaps you can help me, though," Bakki continued, getting back to his map.

"With what?"

"You know the land far better than I do, and you have traveled a great deal of these areas. Perhaps you can give me tips on which routes to take."

"Let's see then," Lina said before ripping off another chunk of chicken. "Hmm, you have a route from Seyruun to Ruvinagald. Scratch that and make it to Sandoria."

"Sandoria?"

"See here? It's further north in Ralteague. Where would we evacuate to from here, though?"

"I was thinking Sairaag, actually, since from everything you all have told me it was a major city of magic. That way, if Seyruun collapses we could have a location packed with magic that we could all fall back to."

"In that case, have a route from Sandoria to Sanboa. It's the coastal town closest to Sairaag over in Lyzeille. We had to go that way once when we were wanted by bounty hunters."

"Do I even want to know why bounty hunters were after you?"

"Someone with a personal grudge put a price on me, Gourry, and Zel's heads. All we knew was that the person who did that was in Sairaag, so we went this route. The only other direct route would take us through the Mountains of Tears," Lina pointed at a spot on the map, "and trust me; you don't want to go through there."

"How about this one? I see that Solaria is not far from Seyruun. It could be a good rendezvous point for evacuees from here."

"From there, I would say that we should go to Gyria over in Dils next since the region between Gyria and Telmoord over here in Lyzeille is very hilly with lots of dense woods."

"I think there should still be a route through these woods, though, just in case the others are blocked off."

"In that case, how about this? We can use Solaria as a fallback point like you said, but if the path to Gyria is blocked then we can cut through the woods and hills to reach Artemay over here. From here, we go straight to Femile. That city has a problem with men being there, but it's not like they could really do anything about a bunch of refugees in a war. That place is secluded enough and has just enough holy energy that people could rest up before going to Rikido Village. The mountain pass there is narrow, but it's a pass that is hard to block off from the south so people should be able to go through it easily."

"If there just isn't much time for anything, we'll have to forget all those plans and have people head directly over to Femile from Seyruun," Bakki stated. "The terrain seems to be rough, but we may not have too many choices when events go down."

Lina nodded. "One thing I'd like to suggest: should we have to go any other route besides the one by sea, then there should also be a big fallback point in Atlas City as well. The Sorcerers' Guild is located there so that city is fairly packed with magic as well. We can hold off in the city long enough for people to safely escape to Sairaag."

"I agree on that," Bakki declared. "In the meantime, we should somehow set up a means to as many villages and towns along that entire area to know when to evacuate should they require to do so. I don't like the idea that many people would ransack those places in desperate attempts to survive, but we can't prevent that from happening."

"How would we make it possible to tell everyone?" Lina asked.

"Like this." Bakki raised his hand in the air. From it shot out hundreds and hundreds of white balls of light. After some time, he brought his hand down to his face level and formed another white ball. He spoke into it. "Citizens, I am truly sorry to bring you this terrible news, but you must evacuate your homes! A war of massive scale has erupted in this world. Seyruun has collapsed, leaving nothing here in this region to defend the lands. You must evacuate to the Northwest in the direction of Sairaag. Only there can we hope to run another counter-offensive. Take only the minimal essentials with you for your journey will need to be fast. Please, I am sorry that it has come to this, but you must hurry in order to save yourselves!"

"WHAT IN THE WORLD?" Lina screamed. "HOW COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT NOW WHEN NOTHING HAS HAPPENED?"

Bakki winked at her. "What I said just now has now been copied into a magical record. Those little balls were all connected to me. They will activate when I allow them to and replay that message in every town and village around these lands, even all the way up in Zefielia and northern Dils. No one heard that message yet."

"Ah, I see…"

"In the meantime, we have our routes. Now we need to come up with means to actually transport people in the fastest ways that we can."

"How are you going to do that? You couldn't possibly teleport all these thousands and thousands of people."

"I could if I had the time to, but I most likely wouldn't have such time available if we lose a battle here. Therefore, we need transportation vehicles that can move a whole lot of people and fast. I could probably develop a type of locomotive that could be used in this world… Perhaps some airships? What type of ships do you all have in this world anyway?"

* * *

**~ SANDORIA DRY DOCKS ~**

"So as you can see, we have these rigs for heavy cargo and that long-boat over there is what we use for passenger services," said the owner of the dry docks.

Bakki studied the ships. "Do you have anything bigger?"

"Yes, but only one ship. If you look over there, we have a 145-foot twin mast capable of carrying over 100 passengers along with the crew."

"How fast can these ships go?"

"Our fastest are the cargo ships and battleships. They can hit 17 knots."

"Well, it's convenient that you all use feet and knots for measurement," Bakki stated. "Sir, how would you care to help me in the construction of a ship 250 feet in length, capable of carrying 300 passengers, can reach 22 knots, and travel over 460 nautical miles in a day?"

"Eh? HAHAHAHA! No such ship exists!"

Bakki smiled. "Oh yes they do…in my world."

"Eh?"

"Maryland!" The hologram appeared. "Reach into your historical vaults and see if we have the designs for the following two ships: _Sovereign of the Seas_ and _Champion of the Seas_, both by Donald McKay of East Boston, Massachusetts. They were launched in 1852 and 1854 respectively." Maryland buzzed for a few moments before displaying two blueprints in midair. "Now see if you can merge the two blueprints so that we can have one that is the middle ground to both." Maryland did some heavy calculations and realignments between the two blueprints before her. It still took her less than a minute to come up with a hybrid of the two. "Print that onto this parchment, would you?" Bakki asked as he materialized a three by five foot length of paper.

She did just that. "Here you go, captain!"

"Thank you," Bakki said as the parchment turned into the blueprints for a ship. "Here you go, sir. You may not be used to the design, but trust me—you'll see great results."

The owner of the dry docks looked over the design with bulging eyes. "HEY, DILSBY, GET OVER HERE!"

The man identified as "Dilsby" came over. "What?"

"Check this out!"

Dilsby looked at the blueprint. "Is this another of your crazy ideas?"

"No, he gave this to me," the owner said as he pointed at Bakki.

Dilsby sighed. "Kid, I don't know who you are, but no design gets approved without going through me first."

"And you are…?"

"The ship builder for Sandoria."

"Ah, in that case, you might be interested in this design."

"Forget it, I'm busy."

"Too busy for a ship 252 feet in length that can hit 22 knots and travel 460 nautical miles in one day?"

Dilsby stopped cold. "How would that be possible?"

"Because the two blueprints that this ship design was based off of are over 200 years old where I come from and they both set records that lasted over 100 years."

Dilsby gave the design another look. "I say it won't even float."

"The bow is wide and only lightly bent forward and has a very sharply raked cut-water. This design allows for the ship, with its good mass, to cut through waves with easy and speed. The smoothly sleek and relatively narrow v-shape of the hull further allows the ship to maintain such cutting motion throughout the length of the hull. The fantail, in the meantime, is sharply raked for aerodynamic purposes. The drawback is that the ship will have a draft of 29.2 feet, so it does need to be careful of where it travels."

"Eh, that won't be a problem," the dock owner said. "The waters in this harbor are over 50 feet even at the shallows."

"That's great!" Bakki cheered.

"Triple-mast?" Dilsby gawked.

"Yes, and they need to be leaned back ever so slightly in order to handle the full force of the winds they catch."

"19 sails…my God…" Dilsby continued.

"With the masts standing 192 feet above the water."

"How long would it take to build such a ship should cost and supplies not be a bother?"

Dilsby scratched his ass while he thought some numbers through. "If money and supplies weren't an issue, we could gather up the manpower to do this in just over 10 days."

Bakki's eyes went bright in joy. "That is good! We'll get you everything you may need, then!"

* * *

**~ SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS ~**

"**MEGA BRAND!** **BURST FLARE!**"

"**FIREBALL!**"

"**DIGGER BOLT!**"

"**VEEGAS GAIA!**"

The thieves hideout that Lina and Bakki were targeting crashed into the ground. Bakki reached out a hand and magically levitated all the treasures hidden inside.

"We'll drop this off as the payment for the ship itself, and then go raid a few other places to pay off for supplies that may be needed," Bakki chuckled.

"Right! But, uh…can I keep some of the stuff?" Lina asked.

Bakki sighed. "After we're done paying for everything, we can raid one more place and you can have you fill there."

"ALRIGHT!"

* * *

**~ SANDORIA DRY DOCKS ~**

"Here you go," Bakki said, dumping the massive loads of gold and other riches in front of the dry dock owner and Dilsby. Their eyes bulged out of their heads, but Bakki didn't pay attention and he teleported himself and Lina elsewhere.

* * *

**~ WOODS MORE DISTANT ~**

"**FIREBALL!**"

"**FLARE ARROW!**"

"**DUG HAUT!**"

* * *

**~ RALTEAGUE LUMBER COMPANY ~**

"How much strong but lightweight wood good for ship-building can we get for this?" Bakki asked, dumping everything valuable collected earlier in front of the company owner.

* * *

**~ SANDORIA AGAIN ~**

"Here's your wood!" Bakki said, using magic to carefully set down thousands of large planks of wood in front of the still-stunned Dilsby and owner.

* * *

**~ SOMEWHERE IN THE SEYRUUN COUNTRYSIDE ~**

"**VAL FLARE!**"

"**FREEZE IN!**"

"**GARUK RUHARD!**"

"**BLAST ASH!**"

* * *

**~ SEYRUUN IRON WORKS ~**

"How much good iron can we buy for this?" Bakki asked, dropping a half a ton of treasure at a jaw-dropped owner of the factory.

* * *

**~ SANDORIA ONE MORE TIME ~**

"Here's your iron!"

* * *

**~ RUVINAGALD WOODS ~**

"**DARK CLAW!**"

"**DOLPH STRASH!**"

"**ARC BRASS!**"

* * *

**~ ATLAS CITY ~**

"How quickly can you all replicate this type of cloth here and make it into large sails, 19 in count?" Bakki was asking the Sorcerers' Guild as he magically transferred them the latest stash of money.

* * *

**~ SANDORIA FOR THE LAST TIME ~**

"And here are your sails," Bakki said. "I trust that you can come up with your own rope using that money I gave earlier?" Dilsby fainted.

* * *

**~ RANDOM WOODS ~**

"**BRAM GUSH!**"

"**WIND BRID!**"

"**DUG WAVE!**"

"**BURST ROND!**"

* * *

**~ FINALLY BACK IN SEYRUUN ~**

Lina was counting the hoard of treasure she took at the last stop. "Gah, those guys really did pack some good stuff!"

Bakki smiled. "I didn't know what any of the bandits would have, but I just instinctively went to the ones that I figured had the best stash of treasures."

"Well, you have some good instinct then. This is amazing stuff!" Lina then looked away from her treasure. "Hey Bakki, how come you didn't ask them to build more than one ship?"

"I can simply use my magic to duplicate a completed ship when the time comes."

"Then how come you aren't duplicating the parts needed for your ship? Wouldn't that save you time?"

"No, because every single part is shaped differently. Since almost all of it involves metalwork, which needs to be carefully molded in order to maintain full strength, it is best that I do not use magic to replicate plates that could be reshaped."

"Ah, I see."

"Now, if the ship were completed, I could duplicate it, but something with as much power as that ship would drain the hell out of me if I made another one magically, and that's something I cannot afford to do."

Lina thought that statement out. "But since the wooden ship is non-magical and doesn't possess powers like _Maryland_, it would be easy to duplicate, right?"

"Exactly. Now I just have to come up with means to travel by land and air that would be easy for your people to handle."

Lina nodded half-heartedly. She was already back to counting her coins and jewels. "Wait…"

"What is it?"

Lina turned with stars in her eyes at Bakki. "Could you teach me how to duplicate things?"

"I suppose I could," Bakki answered.

"WOO-HOO!" Lina turned back to her possessions. _'If I learn how to duplicate things, I will be set for life!'_ she thought as she drooled over her treasure. _'This will be fun!'_

_

* * *

_

* The phrase that Bakki says ("Maryland, prepare a full phasor spread on all elevations, all banks on my mark.") was derived off of a line by Patrick Stewart in _Star Trek: Nemesis _("Mr. Worf, prepare a full phasor spread, zero elevation, all banks on my mark.") in the opening scenes of the Battle of Basin Rift just after the warp drive was disabled. I love Jean-Luc Piccard and so I let the nerd in me talk as I wrote that line. No claims on my part.

* The _Sovereign of the Seas _was an extreme clipper built by Donald McKay and launched in 1852. She set the speed record for a sailing ship at 22 knots in 1854 and held that record for over 100 years.

* The _Champion of the Seas_ was also an extreme clipper built by Donald McKay and was launched in 1854. On her maiden voyage, she set the distance record of 465 nautical miles in a day's run (noon to noon) and kept that record for nearly 130 years.

* I do not know whether Sandoria really did have dry docks or not, so I just made one up. Ralteague Lumber Co. and Seyruun Iron Works were also something I came up with, but take no ownership over.


End file.
